JUDGE MASON'S PROCEDURES
FORECLOSURE INITIATIVE – EFFECTIVE NOVEMBER 1, 2013
ALL Residential Foreclosure matters are to be scheduled via the Civil Case Management Department before the Senior Judge or Magistrate Floyd. Telephonic appearance is NOT permitted on any Residential Foreclosure hearing regardless of the length of the hearing.
HEARINGS
To schedule a hearing which is less than 1 hour, refer to JACS for available hearing dates and times, coordinate your hearing with opposing counsel, and contact the Judicial Assistant to have your hearing placed on the docket. All 5 minute timeslots can be converted to 10 minutes, and 15 minute timeslots can be converted to 30 minutes in duration, given the time is available within the posted period. Notify the Judicial Assistant when you call to schedule that you wish to have the timeslot changed to a longer duration. Hearings requiring more than 1 hour must be requested in writing and approved by the Court before hearing time will be scheduled. The Judicial Assistant will contact the attorneys’ office with extended hearing times to coordinate these hearings.
A party/counsel scheduling a hearing must concurrently notice the matter in conformance with the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure and ensure timely notice is served on all pro se parties and counsel of record in advance of the hearing. The original notice must be filed with the Clerk of the Court. A hearing that is evidentiary in nature and involving presentation of evidence (affidavits, testimony, exhibits, etc.), should clearly indicate it is an evidentiary hearing on its face. It is strongly preferred that any such notice include not only the name of each receiving attorney and pro se party, but also addresses.
If you cancel a hearing, you are required to file a Notice of Cancellation and fax a copy to the Judicial Assistant at 941-637-2161 in order to ensure your hearing is removed from the docket.
MAGISTRATE KOCH
Civil motions of any case type may also be scheduled before Magistrate Koch. Please refer to JACS for the Magistrate's availability. The date and time of any hearing must be coordinated with the Office of the Magistrate before scheduling.
TELEPHONIC APPEARANCE
In order to appear telephonically, a motion and order must be filed with and approved by the Court at least 5 business days prior to the scheduled hearing date. All telephonic hearings are set via CourtCall®. The motion and order must state the type of hearing, length of time, date and time, and should not contain any evidentiary material. Additionally, the motion and order MUST state that the hearing will be held via CourtCall®. Telephonic appearances will not be granted on hearings longer than 15 minutes. Each party is responsible for preparing their own motion and order for telephonic appearance. When the requesting parties have received the approving order, they must set the telephonic hearings via CourtCall® at (888) 882-6878. If the
motion and order is not approved and coordinated with CourtCall® at least 5 business days prior to the scheduled hearing, all parties will be required to appear in person.
PROPOSED ORDERS
Be prepared at your hearing with a proposed order, appropriate copies, and self-addressed, stamped envelopes for conforming. If you do not have a proposed order at the time of the hearing, you should mail an agreed order after the hearing stating in your cover letter that opposing counsel has reviewed the order presented and has no objection thereto. Do not mail proposed orders to the court that have not been agreed upon by the parties and/or their respective counsel. If you haven’t received your conformed copy yet, please call the Clerk’s office before you call the Judge’s office.
TRIAL DOCKETS
Trials requiring one-half day or longer are set on the Court's next available Initial Pre-Trial Conference docket, unless otherwise requested. Parties/counsel should file a Notice for Trial, and attach a courtesy copy of the Notice to the Order Setting Jury/Non-Jury Trial and Pre-Trial Conference, leaving the dates section blank for the Court to fill in with the next available date, along with the appropriate amount of copies and self-addressed, stamped envelopes for conforming to all parties of record.
In an effort to assign trial dates more quickly, jury and non-jury trials will be combined on the same docket. Initial Pre-Trial Conferences are 60 days prior to the assigned trial period. A Final Pre-Trial Conference will be set at the Initial Pre-Trial Conference with a date approximately 10 days prior to the trial period. Parties/counsel of record can have their appearance waived at the Initial Pre-Trial Conference by completing the Pre-Trial Conference Order and submitting it to the Court at least 5 business days before the Initial Pre-Trial Conference date. Judge Foster’s downloads referenced herein are available on JACS and should be used. The moving party is required to send in the appropriate amount of copies and self-addressed, stamped envelopes for conforming to all parties of record.